Disposable absorbent articles are well known in the art. Disposable absorbent articles are worn about the waist to collect and retain exudates from the wearer. These disposable absorbent articles have a liquid pervious topsheet which is worn in contact with the body of the wearer. Bodily exudates, including urine and fecal material, pass through the topsheet to be retained by, in, or near an absorbent core.
Recent advancements in the art include disposable absorbent articles which attempt to isolate fecal material from the skin of the wearer. Such disposable absorbent articles often have a topsheet with an aperture to allow fecal material to pass through the topsheet and which are elasticized to conform closely to the wearer's body, particularly the buttocks.
The balance of the disposable absorbent article may be spaced away from the topsheet, creating a void space for the receipt of fecal material. Examples of such attempts in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,737 issued May 30, 1989 to Khan and U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,840 issued Nov. 5, 1991 to Holt et al.
Certain attempts in the art only elasticize selected portions of the disposable absorbent article. For example, the topsheet of the disposable absorbent article may be divided into different sections, some of which are elasticized and some of which are not. Examples of such attempts in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,760 issued Apr. 7, 1987 to Morman et al. and British Patent Application 1,520,740 published Aug. 9, 1978 in the name of Tong.
Other attempts in the art elasticize particular portions of the topsheet of the disposable absorbent article. Such elastication has been achieved through the use of linear elastic strands and elastic panels. Further advances in the art include topsheets which have an elastic modulus that provides a close fitting topsheet that is more comfortable to the wearer. Examples of such attempts in the art include commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,536 issued Jan. 9, 1990 to DesMarais et al., commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,147 issued Feb. 5, 1991 to Freeland, U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,415 issued Aug. 6, 1991 to Leroy et al., and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,416 issued Aug. 6, 1991 to Allen et al.
However, the prior art attempts to create a topsheet for use in a disposable absorbent article which isolates fecal material from the skin of the wearer do not sufficiently address the competing interest at stake in such a topsheet. For example, some of the aforementioned teachings do not disclose a hole for the transmission of fecal material and therefore cannot address the need to pass the fecal material to a location where it can be isolated from the wearer. Other attempts in the art do not properly balance the need to accommodate the differences in the wearer's anatomy and participation in the excretory functions while the disposable absorbent article is worn. Yet further, the attempts in the art do not address the differences in cleaning the various parts of the wearer's anatomy when the soiled disposable absorbent article is removed and the wearer is to be cleaned.
Clearly, it can be seen that a need exists in the art for a topsheet which properly addresses isolation of fecal material from the skin of the wearer and the comfort of the wearer while the disposable absorbent article is worn. Such a topsheet should further address the differences in the wearer's anatomy which are in contact with the topsheet, and the differences such portions of the anatomy have on the effect of the fit of the disposable absorbent article while it is worn and on the cleaning task after the disposable absorbent article is removed.